If you own a preschool or a daycare, you need to be versatile with your payment processing methods. Some of your parents probably have direct deposit, and it may not be convenient for them to stop at an ATM or bank on the way home. Other parents may prefer to pay by check, to make it easy to take the money from a specific account or keep track of child care payments for court or tax purposes. You need to be able to accommodate these parents and still be able to get your payments in a timely manner.
There are plenty of payment processing companies for you from which to choose, but not all of them can accept all methods of payment. For instance, some payment processing companies will only deal with credit cards, which leaves you to try to make it to the bank before they close, so you can deposit your checks.
You don’t have to have any special equipment to take payments. You may be able to use something as simple as virtual payment processing, which means that you don’t have to swipe a credit card.
Being the owner of a child care company is different than being someone who simply babysits in their living room. You have more costs, and you face higher expectations. Your parents don’t always get to see the details of this, so offering them multiple payment options gives them a chance to see what you do as a profession, rather than a hobby. It also means that there are enough payment options for parents to always have some method of payment they can use, reducing your fear of neglected payments.
